


Soft Steel

by honebami



Series: Cuddle Hotel [1]
Category: New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Cuddles, Dysphoria, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, nb kiibo, trans girl tenko
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-18
Updated: 2017-10-18
Packaged: 2019-01-18 22:47:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,463
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12397827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/honebami/pseuds/honebami
Summary: Kiibo and Tenko discuss gender and cuddle.





	Soft Steel

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Mistropolis](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mistropolis/gifts), [asterions](https://archiveofourown.org/users/asterions/gifts).



> thank you so much for reading !! credit to kokichiouma for the excellent ' menace ' pun !

Kiibo sat on the edge of the cuddle hotel's bed, their shoulders locked stiff, as they awaited their cuddling partner. They'd studied such forms of human intimacy, of course, so they would be fine. They stared down at the steel of their hands.

The door creaked open, and Kiibo whipped their head up. Tenko stepped through. Her hair hung undone over the fuzzy fabric of her kigurumi. When her eyes landed on theirs, her face fell. "Ah, Kiibo!" she called, her voice tinged with false bravado. "Tenko thought she would get to cuddle a girl. But the robot is better than a flesh menace, if nothing else."

"This is a motive to deepen our friendship, so please cease your robophobia." They glanced from Tenko's pajamas to their own bare metal. "Even Monodam is robophobic too, it seems. Though I may not require clothes the way humans do, that does not mean I should be excluded from proper cuddling garments."

Tenko pulled at the minky fabric. "It's not very practical, though. It'd be difficult to fight in this."

"Do you need to fight while cuddling?" Kiibo asked.

Her gaze grew fierce and raised her hands. "You never know when you'll need to defend yourself!" She soon fell back into a determined smile. "Now, Tenko will cuddle you, so she may get a chance to come here again and snuggle with Yumeno!"

"Please, do not force yourself," said Kiibo. "Though I am a robot, I realize that you must consider me to be a male."

Tenko stepped closer to Kiibo. "You're not a menace though, are you? Tenko asked you before."

Kiibo shifted. "Yes, well, I..." Their voice trailed into a sigh. "I don't know. Before you asked me, I hadn't really thought about it, but I don't consider myself to be a man. And while I have done research on the sexes, I do not understand what being male or female is supposed to feel like," they said. "But! It is not because I am a robot! I was designed in the form of a male high school student. Not feeling like one must be... an error of some sort."

The plush mattress dipped under Kiibo's thigh as Tenko sat beside them. "Kiibo, do you think you might be transgender?" she asked.

"What?" Static looped and cut through Kiibo as they raced through their files. "I... I am a robot," they said, "so I do not have an assigned sex from which to deviate. Surely, I am merely confused."

Tenko shook her head. "It's not about if you have a sex or not," she said. "You've been assigned the role of being a menace, correct?"

On a long-past kindergarten day, Kiibo had sat crouched and hulking amongst softbodied children. "Girls get red apples," the teacher had said as he handed out fuzz-cut construction paper, "and boys get green apples." They'd creased the sour green between the clamped pinch of their fingers.

Tenko lay her hand over Kiibo's clenched fist. "No one can tell you how you're supposed to identify, Kiibo. Not even your creator."

The honey-yellow of the walls was too warm, too thick in the circuits of their throat. "That... may be true, for a human like you, but I..."

Tenko’s eyes were clear and searching. Upon seeing that Kiibo wasn't continuing, she breathed out a sigh. "Tenko knows what it's like," she said, her voice velvet-soft, "to be told you're a menace when you're not." Her fingers tightened over their hand.

She cast her eyes away from Kiibo. "Chabashira," Kiibo began, "are you transgender? Like Saihara is?"

She nodded. "That's right. That might be one of the reasons why he's the only menace Tenko would consider a friend. Trans solidarity, you know?" She let out a half-laugh. "It's not the same, of course, but it's nice to have someone here who understands, even if he is a menace."

"I see." Raspberry pink reflected in the silver shine of their fingers as Kiibo rumpled the blanket. "Perhaps another reason is that he's the only man willing to take your attacks long enough to befriend you?"

Tenko laughed. "That's probably true as well!"

"It must be nice, though. To have someone who can kind of understand what you're going through, even when it's not the same." Kiibo lifted their raspberried hand and curled their joints open and in.

Tenko turned towards Kiibo. "Tenko would like to be that sort of person for you.” She tightened her hand over theirs. "She can't understand what it's like to be a robot, but she does understand dysphoria. And if anyone tries to tell you you're supposed to be a menace," she made a chopping motion with her hands, "Tenko will take them down with her Neo-Aikido!"

Kiibo smiled. "Thank you, Chabashira. If I... could cry, I think I would be."

"Ah! Please, do not hold back on expressing your emotions!" She shifted closer. "But it must be hard on you to talk about it. Would you like to cuddle now?" she asked, and opened her arms.

Kiibo's joints locked tight. They were still learning how to read others, as Ouma had drilled in time and time again, but from the tremble under Tenko's waiting smile, even they understood that her words were surely a reflection of herself.

Who was Kiibo to think about trying to be anything else? The logic and the voices whirring through binary code told them they were a man, they were a menace, they were an object.

"I, well..." Kiibo raised their robotic hands. "I would like to, but even if it is okay for me to... not be a man, I am still a robot. I do not possess the qualities of softness and warmth that makes cuddling a desirable activity," they said.

"No, that's wrong!" said Tenko. She pushed herself up by her fists into the mattress. "People cuddle to express affection, even if it is uncomfortable sometimes! It's showing your feeling that counts!" She sat back. "Besides, you're not all hard! You have a soft heart, Tenko can tell. And your hair looks soft too!"

"Oh..." Kiibo raised a hand to their hair and pushed their fingers through the locks. "My apologies for being mistaken. I suppose I still have much to learn about human bonding." They cast their eyes down.

"Well! In Neo-Aikido and in life, one must work hard and practice, and Tenko is happy to help!" Her leg bumped against Kiibo's. "To start with, may Tenko pet your hair?"

Kiibo locked their arms at their side and bowed forward. "Please, go ahead!"

Tenko leaned out of their way. "Y-You don't need to be so formal!"

Kiibo raised themself back up. "I-I'm very sorry!" They tapped their fingers together. "Please instruct me on the proper procedure for engaging in hair petting."

Tenko held back a laugh. "Just sit normally and relax." She raised a hand and gently lay it over Kiibo's hair. "See?"

Professor Iidabashi had pat Kiibo like this before, when they had been developing through the childhood stage. His hand had been heavy and hot upon their metal scalp. "You're a good boy, Kiibo," he had said in his warm rumble of a voice, before turning away from them and shutting his welding mask over his face.

Tenko's hand was light as she stroked through their hair, her fingers a warm graze against their artificial skin. "Your hair really is soft!" she said. "Is this okay?"

Kiibo whirred. "Um, y-yes. Thank you."

"You know," said Tenko as she continued to stroke through their hair, "You're warm, just like a human is! Tenko had no idea!"

"W-What? Like a human?"

When Professor Iidabashi had pat them, he would sometimes pull back, his eyebrows furrowed and his mouth set. "Kiibo is getting too hot, still," he'd mutter to himself, and he'd turn away to make notes or instruct Kiibo to power down so that he could check their fans.

Overheating was a flaw of their body; but humans were warm, so where did that leave Kiibo?

"In that case... Would I have your permission to pat your head as well, Chabashira?"

"Of course! Tenko would let you even if your hands were cold," she said. She lowered her arms to her lap.

"Thank you very much! I will do my best." Kiibo slowly raised a hand and reached towards her. Tenko's hair hung loose over her shoulders in mossy waves. Without her accessories as a shield, she seemed almost smaller, more exposed. Tenko nodded at them, and Kiibo placed their hand over her hair. "Is this right?" they asked.

"Yes! Now, stroke Tenko's hair, like this." She stroked Kiibo's hair once more.

Kiibo mirrored her movements. Her hair gave under their hands, the soft fibres like those of the dolls Kiibo once played human with. Their shoulders relaxed.

As Kiibo stroked through once more, Tenko let out a yelp.

"A-Are you alright!" stammered Kiibo as they tried to pull their hand away; but the hair tangled in their joints tethered them to her. Their circuits burned as they pinched her hair with their other hand and tried to pull free. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you!"

"Kiibo, it's okay," hissed Tenko. "Let Tenko hold her hair." She reached up and replaced Kiibo's hand. "Try to pull yourself free. Don't worry about Tenko."

Kiibo nodded, closed their eyes, and pulled. Strands of her hair tugged out with their hand as they fell backwards onto the bed.

Tenko looked up. "See, you got it!" she said.

Kiibo pulled themself up. They tugged strands of hair from the joints in their fingers. "I'm sorry," they repeated. "I shouldn't have asked to pat you. I want to be able to do what humans can, but... Perhaps a robot shouldn't try to show human affection after all."

Tenko walked on her knees along the bed over to them. "Don't give Tenko that!" she snapped. "It's human to accidentally hurt others. That doesn’t mean you should stop trying!” The dog ears of her kigurumi flopped forward as she pulled her hood on. She took Kiibo’s hand and held it atop her head. “Here! Tenko’s hair won’t get caught this way."

Kiibo’s hand lay hard and mechanical on the brush of minky. “I… is it really okay?”

"Of course." Tenko pulled Kiibo’s hand along her hood, lifted it back up, and repeated the motion until slowly, softly, Kiibo stroked down on their own. “See? It's okay."

Kiibo moved their hand to pet one of her kigurumi’s ears. “These pajamas are very cute,” they said. “I would have liked to have received some too, but I suppose I don’t need clothes.” It was something they’d thought about, certainly, as if that second skin could make them soft, but fabric would pinch in their joints and their body would pull at the threads.

Tenko moved to get up. “Actually,” she said, “Tenko thinks there might be extras!” She made her way to the closet and pulled through stacks of neatly folded Monokuma print blankets. A tossed pillow bounced off of Kiibo with a soft thwump. “Ah! Found them!” She turned around and held up a wooly white kigurumi, with a bell around the neck and small horns on the hood.

Kiibo's circuits burned. “It's so cute... Is it really okay for me to wear something like that?”

Tenko returned to the bed and handed Kiibo the kigurumi. “Of course! They’re here for us to use after all, right?”

"Yes, I suppose you're right. Thank you." The wool fabric curled in Kiibo’s hands. Their metal fingers clinked against the buttons as they slipped them free. “I’ve never worn something like this before."

“Oh! Do you need Tenko’s help?”

Kiibo shook their head a bit too fast. "I may be a robot, but I can manage this much!” They trust their arms through the holes.

“Kiibo, those are the leg holes."

The kigurumi's hood hung limp by Kiibo's feet. “Oh.” They tugged themself free and pushed their arms through the second set of holes. “Okay, these are the arms, right?”

Tenko held back a laugh. “They are, but now you’re putting it on backwards.” She helped pull Kiibo free. “Put your legs through first, then stand and put your arms through.” Kiibo stood, and she helped their arms through the sleeves. She closed the buttons over their chest lights, then reached around their head and flipped their hood up. It caught on their ahoge and flopped back. “Well, you might have to leave the hood down,” she said, “but you look nice and cozy now!”

Kiibo’s hands were still too metallic, too prismatic, against the soft white sheep’s curl; but when they moved their arm, the fabric moved with them. If they looked only at their legs, if they sat and curled their feet out of sight, they could think they were seeing a human.

“Kiibo!” They broke from their stupor. “May Tenko hug you now?” she asked, her arms waiting at her sides.

Kiibo looked at their encased form once more, grinned, and put their hands on their hips. “Yes! Please, go ahead!”

Tenko slid her arms through Kiibo’s and laced her hands behind them. The fabric bunched between her fingers. They couldn’t see her face, but Tenko’s warmth reached through the fabric. “I, um,” Kiibo stammered, “what should I do?”

She squeezed them. “Just wrap your arms around me, like Tenko is doing with you,” she said.

Kiibo put their hands on her back. “Like this?”

“Your technique needs work,” she said, “but that will do for now.” She swayed with them lightly.

Kiibo held still. Their eyes buzzed. “I’m not hurting you, am I? Even wearing this, can’t you still feel my real body?”

Tenko braced down, let out a ferocious cry, and lifted them off the ground. Kiibo screamed as they were thrown backwards onto the bed. They sunk into the blankets.

Tenko posed with her hands raised. “Some sharp angles are no match for Tenko!” She flopped down next to them on the bed and learned into their side. “No matter what your body is like, you deserve warmth."

“T-Thank you,” said Kiibo. “You deserve the same. I think you’re amazing.”

“What? Tenko?" She twisted her face into a grimace. “Well, it would be better coming from a girl, but as it’s not coming from a menace, I suppose I'll accept that compliment.” She slung her arm over them. “Whew... You’re warm enough that I could sleep right here."

“Well, we still have time, so please feel free,” said Kiibo. “I don’t sleep, so I’ll make sure you are safe. Because, um…” Kiibo turned their head towards her. “We have solidarity, correct?”

Tenko laughed. “That’s right. We’ll look out for each other.”


End file.
